2.25.2014

Tea Tasting in San Francisco's Chinatown

While in San Francisco, we stopped for a little tea tasting in Chinatown.  Our tea pourer, Carina, relayed a rather entertaining story about the process of rinsing and steeping the tea.  First you rinse your tea.  Then you rinse again, or steep it and serve the tea to an unwanted guest, a nosy neighbor, or to your husband if you don't love him.  The third soaking and steeping of the tea leaves is for you.

Vital Tea Leaf
905 Grant Avenue
San Francisco

2.13.2014

Scenes From A Restaurant | Mamnoon, Seattle

Love this Middle Eastern restaurant featuring food from Syria and Lebanon in the Capital Hill section of Seattle.

   Mamnoon
   1508 Melrose Avenue
   Seattle, Washington
   206.906.9606

2.03.2014

Ebbio | Monteriggioni, Italy


Some years back I visited an 800 year old farmhouse in Monteriggioni, Tuscany, for a week.  It was a yoga retreat with an endless supply of chianti.  Organic chianti.  My kind of yoga retreat.  From the moment we arrived it was magic.  Franz made a lunch for my good friend and yoga instructor, Kori, and myself under the wisteria tree before the other attendees arrived.  We ate pasta with butter, garlic and chestnuts, sautéed swiss chard and salad.  Oh and the wine! Oh and the cheese! At one point he disappeared into the forest and all of a sudden came running 2 gorgeous horses out of nowhere, running right at us, but then taking a turn and running down to the vineyard.  The farm is full of animals, peacocks, cats, dogs, donkeys, and more.  

Everyday we did 2 sessions of yoga, often with the horses peeking in at us at the window. We ate the most delicious vegetarian food grown right on the farm, breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We went wine tasting and to see the towns of Sienna and San Gimignano.  It was an amazing retreat.  Franz is an incredible chef and great host.  He makes you feel so at home. This magical place is Ebbio.